Staying safe from crime
Before getting into this article let me first give you a brief on who I am. I am a former Police Officer of over 14 years. I am also the author of the book Crime Awareness 101. Throughout my career as a police officer I discovered that for the most part criminal activity is not all that unique. I saw the same crimes happen over and over again; and, I saw the victims of these crimes make the same mistakes over and over again. Criminals look for the same opportunities as they always have, and victimize people the same way. Why do they constantly get away with it? Well because we allow them too. How do we do that? We don't learn anything about criminal activity, until it is too late. We tend to believe the same common misconception.
It won't happen to me
This type of thinking is exactly what the criminal wants you to think. Why; because this type of thinking keeps you off guard. It is kind of like a salesman. Who is a salesmen's best friend? It is an uneducated consumer. So, who is a criminal's best friend? It is an uneducated victim. To keep yourself safe from crime (or at least lesson your odds) you need to learn about crime. What do you need to learn?
Well for starters you should know that most criminals look for easy opportunities. They want to get in and out as fast as they can or, take their victim somewhere isolated or hidden and do whatever they have planned. Understanding this concept is a key point to keeping you safe. If the criminal wants an easy target, then your objective is to be a hard target. The harder the target you are the more likely the criminal will move on to someone else more vulnerable. You need to understand that you will not stop criminal activity know one can. However, you can make yourself a hard enough target that they will move on.
How do you make yourself a hard target? Well one of the key steps is to follow as many practical preventative measures as you can. The more things you do to prevent crime the safer you will become. What are practical preventative measures? They preventative measures that most people can do without a major disruption in their lifestyle or major expense. Below is a short list.
- Lock your car doors.
- Don't leave items of value in your car that can be easily seen.
- Get deadbolt
locks for your house, and use them. (See my article
"Tips for keeping you home invasion free" ) - Be aware of what's going on around you.
- Shred or burn any financial statements you would normally throw away.
- Itemize the property in your
home. (See my article
"The importance of documenting your property" ) - Park in well lit areas.
- Do not flash a lot of money or expensive jewelry.
- Do not leave outgoing bills in your unlocked mailbox for the postman to pick up.
- Try not to wear clothing that is too restrictive.
This is just a short list taken from various crimes; in my book I list over 150 preventative and safety tips, from various crimes and criminal activity. Now I know what you are saying "That's just a bunch of common sense things that don't mean anything." That statement couldn't be further from the truth. These preventative tips weren't just dreamed up because someone had nothing to do. Tips like these are a result of thousands of crimes that have been committed and what could have been done to prevent them. Disregarding tips like these is a big step in the direction of becoming a criminal's best friend "the uneducated victim."
Another thing you can do is learn about criminal behavior. They are studying you, so why don't you study them. Understanding how criminals think and what they look for is an excellent way that you can avoid them. I wrote an article titled "Six Common Criminal Types and How to avoid them " which, is a short but interesting look at the different types of criminals and what they look for. Of course my book covers this in more detail but the article is a good start.
Finally there is an easy little trick that very few people know about or do. I call it "Mental Role Playing. " What is mental role playing? It is imagining an event and playing out in your mind how you would handle it. For example say you are concerned about what you would do if someone entered your home. Well play that scenario out in your mind. Think about what this person looks like, how many there are, what time of day or night it is, who is home with you, make it as detailed as possible. Then think through, what you would do, how would you handle it. In my book I cover mental role playing more in depth. However this should give you a good idea of what I am talking about.
Of course there are other things you can do. However to cover all that would be much longer than an article it would be more like a book. And, that is exactly what I have written. You can check it out, along with all my articles at www.crimeawareness101.com
About the author: Scott Shaper is former Police Officer and the author of the book Crime Awareness 101. He has also written numerous articles about crime / crime prevention. His website can be found at www.crimeawareness101.com